A Phantom and his Broken World
by CyberActors15
Summary: The world is broken and in chaos. The population has greatly been reduced. Humans and ghosts are either trying to make the best of the situation by collaborating or at each other's throats. The best path to recovery lays in the hands of a Phantom.
1. Prelude: 5 Months until the Apocalypse

Prelude: 5 Months until the Apocalypse

 **CyberActors15: Greetings mortals and viewers alike, my name is CyberActors15 and welcome to my latest story. First of all I just want to say that there is a good possibility of this story being slightly darker than the kind of stories that I usually publish on this page. Slightly being the key word of that sentence. That being said it will still have the usual CA15 flair, and won't become a series dramatic story despite being slightly darker. Timeline wise it's safe to say that every episode save for Phantom Planet has happened. That's really all I have to say, besides the obvious disclaimer that Danny Phantom doesn't belong to me, and with all that said I won't hold you any longer. Let's get into the story.**

* * *

"And now introducing the new president of the student body, awarded for is stunning valour and leadership skills Danny Fenton." Mr Lancer announced prompting applause from the auditorium filled with students.

The student in question, Danny, stood on the stage with a nervous grin on his face and a comically large drop of sweat running down his forehead. In all honesty Danny was surprised that he was nominated and even more so when he was announced as the winner. With everything that had happened during his high school career it was a major surprise that he would end up with this position.

Looking back he was required to do community service or risk suspension due to his history of late arrivals, failed homework, bunking of class, cheating on that one test, and breaking of several beakers in the chemistry room. It's worth noting that all of those things were a direct result of his extracurricular activities as the local hero, Danny Phantom. Lancer placed him in the student council as a method to teach him responsibility. That was when he was 15. When Danny turned 16 he had had enough experience with his ghost half to be able to begin balancing his life as a teenager, a student and a superhero. To everyone in Casper High it looked like Danny was becoming more responsible and less of a slacker. As a member of the student council Danny found himself helping out more at the school and he figured he must have been doing a good enough job to be noticed because the next thing he knew was that he was nominated for the election. Now he was 17 and being given the 'most prestigious position' that a student could possibly have.

"And introducing the new vice president of the student body, Paulina Sanchez." Mr Lancer announced resulting in another round of applause for the 'most popular girl in all of Casper High.'

Danny spared a glance at his new partner in crime, who interestingly enough didn't appear to hold any malice for coming in second place. Unlike him she stood with pride and even blew a kiss towards her audience as they cheered for her. Danny was less surprised by Paulina's nomination as well as her victory here. Admittedly he was surprised when he joined the student council and found out that she was already a member. Paulina had joined the council of her own free will. When Danny joined it seemed the queen of the A-List Students was already pining for the role of student body president, so Danny assumed that she was just here for the boost of her popularity. However as Danny worked with her and the rest of the student council members he learned that Paulina was surprisingly a hard worker and had interest in some of the things the student council arranged. Turns out Paulina was the one responsible for every prom that the school had had in his years at this school turning out so successfully. Who would've thunk?

Both Danny and Paulina were asked to say a few words before the assembly ended. Danny was reminded of the time that he had to give an inspiring speech to the kids and teenagers inside Amity Park to get their parents back from Youngblood and Ember. Okay maybe it wasn't that epic but it did feel that way to the Halfa.

Once the assembly ended Danny met up with his two friends, Sam and Tucker, one of which was laughing and the other was congratulating Danny on his victory. Danny rolled his eyes and flicked Tucker in the head.

"Thanks for the support Tuck." Danny said dryly.

"You have to admit, your face was pretty funny. And you and Paulina being partners in the student council, cherry on the cake." Tucker said as he held up his PDA that had a picture of Danny as he stood on stage.

For the first time in history Sam agreed with Tucker stating that Danny's expression was funny.

"Sam Manson agreeing with Tucker Foley?" Danny over dramatized. "The world must be ending."

Danny didn't realise just how true that statement was.

"Over dramatic much Danny?" Sam responded with an annoyed but amused expression, which included the traditional Manson eye roll and classic crossing of arms, alongside the slight smirk that betrayed her hidden amusement.

"Hey Fenton."

The attention of the three was drawn over to the presence of the main A-List group, Paulina, Star, Dash and Kwan. Danny immediately tensed up, expecting bullying or Paulina's fury at taking the role of president which she had so eagerly been trying to attain for the past few years. Danny's expectations were shattered when Paulina spoke.

"Looks like we will working together from now on." Paulina said. "The most beautiful girl in Amity Park," Danny raised an eye brow, wasn't it most beautiful in Casper High, something must have changed that, "and the… average boy of Casper High. Regardless I think we will work well together."

That was a surprise. Danny couldn't see the faces of Sam and Tucker right now due to focusing on Paulina but he figured they were just as surprised as Danny was about Paulina not attack in some way shape or form.

"So let me get this straight, you aren't mad that I became the president?" Danny asked.

The Latino girl shook her head. She admitted to being frustrated at not winning the top spot however she also said that there was no use crying over spilt milk. What was done was done, and she would be content with the role of vice president. Danny actually began to wonder if the world was indeed ending.

"But don't think just because I have to listen to you that I won't bring my ambitions into this school." Paulina announced before she grabbed Danny's arm. "We actually need to have a meeting now because there are things I need to discuss with you for the year moving forward."

Paulina began dragging Danny towards the student council room as she blathered on about plans for dances, festivals and other school activities that were up to the student council to organise. Danny was still in a state of confusion. That confusion however vanished the moment a blue wisp of cold air escaped from his mouth.

Danny was about to react and make up some excuse as to why he had to leave but then he remembered his position. He couldn't just leave so he had to do something different.

Danny concentrated on his ice core and for a split second he allowed his ghostly aura to appear even though he was in his human form. Even the most perceptive would view the sudden aura around him as a trick of the light, and that was what Danny intended because in that 'trick of the light' he actually duplicated himself. Now he could handle the student council meeting as well as the ghost fight, but he would just have to make sure that he didn't expend too much power or he would be royally screwed.

Following his ghost sense to the ghost was easy enough and as it turned out his favourite ghostly diva was out and about and she was robbing a music store. Phantom honestly wasn't all that surprised.

"Hey, I think that equipment is a bit above your paygrade." Phantom said catching Ember's attention. "Maybe you should try pots and pans, might be a little cheaper to work with those."

Ember rolled her eyes at his comment and turned to face her enemy.

"Sorry dipstick I think you have me confused for someone else." Ember said. "Mama needs some new equipment, sure, but I never had any intention of buying them."

Ember struck a chord on her guitar sending a shockwave towards the halfa, which he simply avoided with a cocky grin on his face.

"So, you are too poor to buy equipment." Danny called out. "Times must be tough. Not enough people buying tickets to your concerts?"

Ember grit her teeth in irritation. Phantom was insulting her and she wouldn't be having that. The ghostly bard strummed a few more notes on her guitar sending more ectoplasmic shockwaves to Phantom. The halfa at the receiving end of the attacks simply dodged out of the way of all the attacks. Three years of ghost fighting had really improved his combat skills.

"So why do you want all this equipment anyway?" Danny asked joyfully as he continued to dodge around her shots.

"You know better equipment, more people hear my voice and submit to my will and I am able to conquer the world." Ember said as she continued to fire at Danny.

"Conquering the world again?" Danny asked. "That's unfortunate."

Like a cowboy in one of those western movies Danny pulled off a quick draw and fired an ecto blast at Ember that knocked her to the ground. Danny then moved in quickly grabbing her and tossing her out the store and following afterwards.

Ember was annoyed. The dipstick was faster and stronger than the last time they fought. He really had been training and improving while all she had been doing was twiddling her thumbs and playing music here and there.

She got up and prepared to play another note, this time ramping up the power to stand a chance of hitting Phantom in the face. Instead of firing a simple beam from her guitar she fired a massive area of affect wave to attack her advisory. Phantom didn't have the pleasure of avoiding it this time due to its speed and size so instead he put a shield around him. His vision was obscured due to the shield and sound waves so Ember had a bit of an advantage, which she used without a moment of hesitation.

Teleporting behind the halfa hero, Ember raised her guitar and used it like a battle axe before bringing it down on Danny's head, earning a satisfying ow from the teen hero. Phantom was slightly dazed and she used this opportunity to attack again this time sending a powerful blast into his back sending him flying forward at full force and slamming into a nearby car.

Pleased with her work she turned and grabbed what she could from the store before hightailing it out of the area. No need to deal with other ghost hunters that would show up eventually.

Danny in the meanwhile fought to stay conscious. He took two major blows to the head but at the same time those were really the only hits that he took during the fight. His ghostly enduring did make it so that both blows weren't as bad as they could have been, but at the end of the day they still hurt and were enough to render him dazed.

Danny sighed to himself as he stood up finally. Ember would return eventually and he would stop her plan when she did, for now he should probably return to his duplicate so that he could be at almost full strength again.

Phantom's body turned into literal green energy and flew off back towards Casper High.

~00000~

"Sir with all due respect, we want to know why none of the field operatives are out in the field." Operative O demanded to their commanding officer.

"There were reports earlier today of Danny Phantom and Ember McLain fighting in the streets and we weren't authorised to go and apprehend either." Operative K added.

Several other operatives expressed similar grievances with their commanding officer, Operative Alpha. They were all gathered in his office in the Guys in White Federal Building, Amity Park Branch.

Operative Alpha groaned in annoyance. He had expected these questions would eventually show themselves but he would have preferred it if these questions came when he had more information to show.

"Quiet all of you." Alpha said before he stood from his desk silencing the room. "The information I am about to relay to you is classified and to only be kept within level 10 clearance, which is something you all have. Before we can speak we need every person level 10 clearance in the conference room in 30 minutes. Additionally I want one of you to appoint all level 5 and above clearance scientists to level 10 have make sure they attend the meeting."

There was a stunned silence among the operatives but they quickly did as they were told. Alpha took the time to head over to the conference room. He waited there as agents and scientists began trickling in. Some were excited at their new promotions and others apprehensive. Those who had been level 10 originally weren't all that concerned but were surprised to see new faces joining their clearance level.

In about 30 minutes everyone had arrived and Alpha was ready to begin.

Alpha pressed a button which activated the sound proof barriers in the room as well as closed all windows and blinds leaving no room for information to leak in or out. All technology in the room was shut off save for the computer which Alpha used. He pressed a button on his computer and a projection appeared on one of the walls.

"The director called it in. The Guys in White have entered crisis level Ragnarok." Alpha spoke causing hushed whispers to begin among the operatives in the office. "The eggheads in Washington have been monitoring the situation and they have confirmed it. We are experiencing the biggest threat to humanity that we have ever seen, the literal end of the world. The Ghost Zone and the Human World will collapse in on each other in what we can describe as an extinction level event. All available resources are being fuelled into finding a way to prevent it or an evacuation plan."

Alpha stepped away from the screen which had been illustrating everything which he had been talking about.

"It is imperative that this information does not leave this room." Alpha stressed. "When communicating with other bases, you may only communicate to others with clearance level 10 and through secure lines only. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Sir." Everyone responded.

"Good. Now that all of you know, be on standby. You scientists will receive orders shortly on what you must do. And field agents will also receive orders, but let me be clear, now is not the time to be hunting ghosts like Danny Phantom. We are here now to work towards protecting humanity not destroying ghosts." Alpha said. "The clock is ticking and we have approximately five months, once you receive your orders get started on them immediately. This is alpha priority."

All the operatives and scientists were excused and Alpha was left in the room. Once he was out of the eye of all the agents working beneath him he shuddered. He had just done what the director had told him to do and told a large number of agents about the impending destruction and he was shaken. He hoped word didn't escape because that would mean chaos.

~00000~

Danny sat in the student council room and sighed. It had now been about a week since he had been appointed as student body president and he had been working hard since then, while also keeping an ear out for any sightings on Ember. The Ghostly Rock Princess had yet to show up so for now he was doing his duties as student body president. Most of the initial duties for the week included planning.

Danny, Paulina and the rest of the council sat discussing the different events that they would host during the year. There were some things that were completely compulsory like the prom, and others which they could decide on like festivals and so on and so forth. First thing they decided on was all the events, which basically involved everyone pitching ideas to Danny and Danny having to agree on which ones would end up being done. Paulina was also involved in the deciding of what events would occur, as the vice-president but mostly it was up to Danny. Additionally Paulina was also pitching a thousand ideas. Once the decisions were made on what events the school would host, Danny had to plan accordingly on when each event would be held so that they could pitch it to the school, which he did very quickly and efficiently.

When he presented the event plan to the rest of the council they were all pleased with the results. There was enough space for minor events and major events. Naturally Prom was one of the events that would be at the end of senior year, and Paulina was naturally excited for that one but there was another big event which she proposed which she was arguably more excited for and would be sooner, approximately five months from now. Paulina had pitched what she called the Casper Festival and Ball. Since ghosts had become such a major part of Amity Park especially with the ghost hero Danny Phantom floating around, Paulina proposed this idea as a festival to honour to hero and celebrate everything that the school and town had endured when it came to ghost attacks. Paulina even wanted the festival to be open to the public so that everyone could enjoy it.

Danny was surprised, he wasn't sure if Paulina was secretly nicer than he thought or if she knew that the best way to enjoy one of these would be with others. Regardless he was impressed and green lit that particular festival.

Now at the end of this meeting he had shown off the completed plan for all upcoming events as well the signed off permission slip from the school to act on all the upcoming events. The council was happy and they had a plan for the next school year. The council talked about more council things and the meeting ended and almost everyone left leaving only the president and vice president in the room. Danny collapsed onto the table in front of him.

"If I had known that so much work went into this I never would have done it." Danny groaned.

"I don't see why you are complaining." Paulina said. "You are good at keeping things organized and leading the team. It makes things easier for me as the vice-president."

"You're supposed to make things easier for me, not the other way around." Danny stated dryly.

The Latina girl chuckled.

"You should be honoured that you are making life easy for me." Paulina said.

"Wow and here I thought you left all the 'more superior than thou' stuff in the 10th grade." Danny commented.

"It was a joke." Paulina stated. "Honestly Fenton, you are doing a good job as the president. No other student body president has been able to organise all this within the first week in office, so I would say you are achieving a good amount. And you happen to be making life easier by doing so."

"Thanks." Danny said it looks like Paulina really had started to mellow out from the shallow A-List bully that she was before.

The two left the office and went their separate ways. The two may tolerate each other now but they still weren't near friends so they didn't walk in the same direction. That was a good thing however as Danny's ghost sense immediately went off when the two were separated.

With no other pressing duties Danny transformed into Phantom and flew out. Once again it didn't take him too long to find the ghost that he was looking for. All he had to do was follow the music.

On a floating platform with all her stolen equipment and ghost band was Ember performing and making people chant her name while she drew power and hypnotized the teenage saps.

"Excuse me miss, these teenagers are already in the process of making poor life decisions, please don't add listening to your music as one of them." Danny quipped as he appeared halting Ember's performance.

Ember paused for a moment and everything became silent.

"Look dipstick I like our little banter as much as the next gal, but that was just mean. My music is not a poor life decision." Ember retaliated before sending a blast of fire from her guitar.

Phantom not feeling like being barbequed countered with ice to get rid of the flames. The two elemental attacks cancelled each other out.

"Sorry Ember. I didn't mean to offend." Phantom responded. "Your music is lovely, but the hypnosis kinda has to go."

Phantom was being sarcastic, slightly, he had to admit he did like her music, but the hypnosis elements really were a problem.

"Hmm, how about no?" Ember retaliated as she fired another ray from her guitar.

~00000~

Operatives K and O were monitoring the fight in Amity Park but knew that interfering now would not be worth it. As much as they hated to admit it, Phantom had claimed Amity Park as his territory and would defend it from Ember without their intervention. And there were other ghost hunters that could show up to stop the fight so they could let go for now. The two returned to monitoring the end of the world situation.

"Sir, you might want to see this."

K walked over to the scientist who had called him. He had been given the role of monitoring the scientists as well as monitoring abnormalities and ecto energy fluctuations. It was how he knew about Phantom having a fight with Ember. However he was obviously not supposed to care about fluctuations on that level.

"What is it?" K asked.

"Sir we are detecting pulses from the Ghost Zone, as if we are about to experience a Ghost Zone Quake. This might be related to the approaching Ragnarok." The scientist responded.

"Keep monitoring and keep me informs as it builds." K responded.

~00000~

Clockwork looked at the screens in his tower. Each screen showed something different, Guys in White facilities all over the planet analysing data, Danny's fight with Ember, ghosts in the ghost zone, Paulina returning to her home and sitting in front of the TV, Valerie preparing her weapons to go after both Ember and Danny, children in other parts of the world enjoying themselves, people going to work and so on and so forth.

Life was progressing and it was a beautiful sight.

"Everything is the way it's supposed to be." Clockwork spoke

Clockwork turned off all the screens before floating through his tower until he found what he needed. It looked like a simple camera but this was much more. Just like Clockwork could see everything through his screens this camera could show him to everyone and everything.

Clockwork looked at the many watches on his wrist and waited. All of a sudden there was a massive quake. A vibration reverberated through the Ghost Zone and into the human world shaking the very fabric of space.

"What the hell was that old timer!" a voice yelled from a dented Fenton Thermos which Clockwork ignored.

He simply turned on the camera as the quake ended. It was time to make an announcement.

~00000~

It was felt all over the world. A quake unlike any the world had ever felt. This wasn't just the earth shaking, this was reality itself shaking. The very space shook and vibrated in such a way that everyone, human and ghost, could feel it. Nothing was disturbed. No buildings broke or shattered but for the first time in the history of the world there was complete silence as everyone wondered what had just happened. And then the image appeared.

Danny and Ember could only stare wide eyed as a giant projection of Clockwork appeared in the air for everyone to see. Every screen in the world crackled before Clockwork appeared. Sam rubbed her eyes as she stared at Clockwork's ancient eyes on her TV. Danielle Phantom shook slightly as she saw Clockwork materialise in front of her. In the Ghost Zone, every ghost was surprised to see a projection of Clockwork appear in front of them or near them. Frostbite could only dread the information come as Clockwork appeared in front of him and his entire village. Walker was concerned when his rule book become a screen in which he saw Clockwork. To some he appeared as he was Clockwork the master of time, to others he appeared as a monk, to others a divine being, to others an angel or a messenger.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Ghosts and Humans. I am Clockwork, master of Time. I have come to tell you that time is running out." Clockwork said. "What you all just experienced was the beginning of the end. The world of the living and the world of ghosts will soon collapse resulting in the end of everything. The Mayans prophesized this event as did the Christians, the Norse, the ancients and the court and many more cultures. In five months the worlds as you know it will come to an end. Enjoy these last few months as they will be your last."

With that Clockwork vanished leaving uncertainty and fear in the world. And then chaos occurred.

* * *

 **Dani: You're ending the world?**

 **CyberActors15: Yup.**

 **Dani: And you are absolutely okay with this?**

 **CyberActors15: Yep.**

 **Dani: You know some people like living in the world.**

 **CyberActors15: Yeah I am aware.**

 **Dani: If there is no world we might die.**

 **CyberActors15: Yes. What of it.**

 **Dani: Writers are Evil.**

 **CyberActors15: Of course.**

 **Dani: What will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite and Follow to find out.**


	2. Prelude: 4 months until the Apocalypse

Prelude: 4 months until the Apocalypse

 **CyberActors15: Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to A Phantom and his Broken World. Before we can begin however we need a brief recap just to make sure that you guys are caught up.**

 **Dani: Okay so last time Danny was elected as the student body president and Paulina was elected as the vice president. Danny ran into a problem that was titled Ember McLain and he was forced to fight her but she got away. The Guys in White tried to keep it secret that the world was ending and when Danny and Ember were fighting Clockwork revealed to the whole world that the world was ending. And then there was chaos.**

 **CyberActors15: Yeah that's about everything that happened. You forgot that Paulina has plans for the upcoming school year though.**

 **Dani: It didn't seem relevant enough, what with the whole world on death's row. Also last chapter it was 5 months. And now its 4 months. Why are you skipping months? Isn't this story about trying to prevent the end of the world?**

 **CyberActors15: First of all everything is relevant… until I decide to retcon things later. Secondly… I'm not going to say anything further about that. Well Onto the story.**

* * *

Danny, Sam and Tucker walked through the school taking note of how much more empty the school felt. It had been approximately one month since Clockwork dropped the bomb that was the world ending and it was safe to say that there wasn't a welcome reception to the news.

At first there was chaos, everyone started freaking out. Danny remembered counting many people being reduced to frightened children in how they acted. Some people were vandalizing things and creating mass panic, others took to religion trying to repent for their sins and be guaranteed trips into Heaven or the specific cultural representation of the afterlife. Some took to the bottle trying to drown the fear of dying in alcohol. It was really a stressful time. The suicide, crime and death rates had increased drastically during that brief period

It was about a week later that populations started to calm down slightly. It seemed that large portions of people decided on lifestyle changes. As far as they were concerned they weren't happy with how their lives were and they were making changes to their lifestyles as long as they had lives left to live. That was actually the explanation for a large portion of the student body and even some of the teachers having vanished. At least that was the explanation for the majority of people who had left. Those who stayed either didn't have enough money for a drastic change to their lifestyle or thought they might as well continue with school with everything else seeming so hopeless.

"The place really is empty isn't it?" Tucker commented.

"It's not that empty." Sam responded. "We still have at least half of the school here."

"Okay admittedly that's true but still there is usually more people here." Tucker said. "I wonder if the teachers are going to continue teaching with more and more people leaving."

"Well some of them really like their teaching jobs so they probably will." Sam said. "However I did hear that Lancer is forgoing classes in favour of screening every single Disney, Pixar and animated film that he can find. Apparently he said something about educating the youth about the quality of animated story telling."

"Remind me not to miss any Lancer classes. I can't wait to learn about the complexities of developing ice powers and freezing a whole city." Danny said earning a chuckle from his two friends.

As the trio walked they came across the remnants of the A-List group and immediately their amusement left. All that was left from the group of popular students were Paulina and Dash, Kwan was one of the students who had left the school with the hope of changing his lifestyle before the end came. A lot of the other sports jocks had abandoned the school as well leaving very few. Dash was actually the only football jock left in their school. A good number of the cheerleaders and rich girls which Paulina interacted with had also left leaving very few, but that wasn't the reason for Paulina's mood.

The stress of the world ending was too much for some and the other less significant reason why some of the students weren't hear was because they had failed to handle that stress. Star, Paulina's best friend, was reported as one of the first casualties of suicide. The entire student body council, at least what was left of it, were the first to hear the news and then it spread to some of the other students.

Danny, Sam and Tucker, were still admittedly not friends with Paulina, especially Sam, but even then they understood that the vice president of the student body was hurting and as they passed her they did stop to comfort her. They also comforted Dash as well since Star was his friend.

Although the five didn't along well the two popular kids thanked the three for their compassion. Paulina, now that she had found Danny actually took the time to talk to him. Despite the recent hindrances such as the world ending soon and the loss of her dear friend Paulina was still determined to make these last four months of school the best ones ever. Both she and Danny were motivated to have all their planned events and even more than that they, Paulina, were determined to make her proposed Casper Festival and Ball an amazing event before the world ended. It was something along the lines of proof that humanity wouldn't just give up even though the world was ending.

The two began discussing what they would need to do first as well as how to motivate students and teachers to stick around until the festival.

~00000~

It's safe to say that in the Ghost Zone life… or afterlife wasn't much better than it was in the human world. There were a lot of ghosts who had a sudden existential crisis and were trying to attain their obsessions before the end came. There were other ghosts who weren't worried at all. What was dying a second time? The ghosts with these views were few and far between. Similarly to the humans, there were also ghosts who were in the process of trying to change their lifestyles so that they could enjoy themselves before the end.

Skulker walked through his island looking at every trophy that he had acquired since becoming the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. He had a great many trophies and if he was going to die then he wanted one last one. The pelt of a halfa. He didn't know if he or anyone would survive the apocalypse to remember his legacy but while there was still life for the next four months he intended to be known as the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter. Everyone would view that as true when he brought in the pelt of a Halfa.

~00000~

"Amity Park. Home of Danny Phantom." Danielle read as she looked at the sign.

The young Halfa stared at the sign hesitantly while deciding if this was a good idea. Ever since Clockwork appeared in front of her warning about the end of the world she had been doing her best to get back to Amity Park. Okay that was a lie. The reason it took her a whole month even though it reasonably should have taken about a week and a half was because the girl kept on second guessing herself.

The reason she was back was because she wanted to ask Danny for a favour before the world ended. A little something that would make her the happiest little halfa in the world while there was still a world. However Dani always hesitated because she found herself wondering if what she wanted to ask wasn't selfish. Looking at the sign that lead to the city made her worry again. Her levels of courage were receding and she immediately turned around.

"No I can't ask him." Dani squealed.

She almost flew away, almost being the key word. Before she made it far and stopped and looked back at the sign. The name Danny Phantom seemed so inviting with so many promises for a good future.

"You deserve to be happy too Danielle." Dani whispered lightly to herself.

Dani floated up slightly and began floating towards the city. She started slowly her heart beating more and more as she inched closer to the city. She needed to do this and the longer she waited the more the clock ticked down. Dani began to increase in speed as she reminded herself that the world would be ending soon and that she wanted some kind of life fulfilment before the end. As the city neared her speed increased and she became more focused on what she wanted. She was flying incredibly fast once her worries were forgotten and her intent had been revealed.

Dani decided that she wouldn't be the scared little girl anymore. Whatever Danny's response was would be his response but as long as Dani asked. It might not go the way she expected it to. It might not even go the way she wanted at all, but she would still ask. She may not have been raised by the family but she remembered what she was. Biologically she was a Fenton… or at least a Phantom and her time in Amity Park before told her that Fentons weren't cowards. She didn't know anything about biology but she was pretty sure courage was heredity.

As she flew she wasn't aware of the pair of eyes watching her fly through the air.

"I didn't expect there to be another Halfa." Skulker noted. "She looks just like the whelp, perhaps a relative."

The hunter grinned perhaps not the prey that he was expecting but still Prey none the less. Skulker's jetpack appeared on his back before he rocketed towards the Halfa.

The hunt had begun.

As he got close to the Halfa, he noticed her ghost sense, interesting her ghost sense wasn't as advanced as Phantom's. Actually as he paid attention he took note that her flight speed wasn't nearly as fast as Phantoms. Overall his scanners showed that the girl had a weaker ghost signature than Phantom did when he started out. The girl certainly didn't appear to be as strong as the whelp based on his readings. Skulker presumed that that was a result of either the girl being younger or being a newer halfa, maybe a combination of the two explanations.

Skulker slowed his flight as he noticed the girl looking around. It seemed her ghost sense had yet to develop the same 3-dimentional awareness that the whelp had. Definitely weaker than the Whelp, but how much weaker was the question. Skulker decided to put the hunt on hold and turned himself invisible in order to observe the girl. The girl was staying still looking around and Skulker could now get a good look at her, she looked around 10 years old, making her around 7 years younger than his usual prey. She also looked exactly like Phantom even her jumpsuit seemed to be modelled after his. It was almost as if someone had de-aged the whelp and turned him into a female.

"Hello." She called out. "Is there anyone there?"

As she looked around her eyes passed over Skulker's invisible form, once again her ghost sense activated but she continued to look around and that solidified Skulker's thoughts. A common trend among stronger ghosts was that they had the ability to almost notice ghosts who were invisible. That's not to say that they could see invisible ghosts but they were more attuned to notice the shimmering of the ghostly aura or even sense the ecto energy, those who perfected the technique essentially had infrared vision and could see invisible ghosts clearly if the temperature around the ghost was right. Phantom had the ability to find ghosts even when they were invisible. As far as Skulker knew he didn't have the infrared sight but he was strong enough to find invisible ghosts. The child in front of him didn't have that sight. Additionally she didn't notice her ghost sense pointing directly in his direction when she looked towards him.

Skulker put the machete that he was holding away, this girl wouldn't be worth the Hunt. She wasn't as strong as Phantom. Additionally it wasn't every day that he encountered such a young child with ghostly abilities. That wasn't to say that they didn't exist but they were rarer than other ghosts.

"Seriously this isn't funny." The girl called out. "I know you're here."

Skulker decided to humour the girl, maybe he could use this to learn more about his true prey.

"Calm down whelp, I'm floating right here." Skulker said as he faded into the visibility spectrum. He hesitated for a second, calling her whelp was strange.

The girl took note of his robotic appearance as if wondering if he were a threat or not.

"Calm down girl, I'm not a threat to you." Skulker said. "I am Skulker the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter and I have no interest in hunting you."

The girl hesitated for a second. "I'm Dani Phantom. Dani with an 'I'" She introduced herself. Skulker could detect a childlike wonder and naiveté from the girl.

"Phantom?" Skulker mused. "What is your relation to Danny Phantom?"

"You know Danny? He's my… uh it's complicated." Dani said while rubbing the back of her neck nervously. Skulker took note of that action but didn't comment on it. "I am actually on my way to see him now."

"If you are then you are heading in the wrong direction." Skulker said causing confusion from the girl. "Usually at this time of day the whelp is at school. It's Thursday and he has student council meetings until 5 o clock. If you continued this way you would end up at his house and the only person you'd find there are his mother and sister."

Dani gave Skulker a strange look.

"What are you a stalker?" She asked.

"Of course not." Skulker stammered. "I run into the whelp there at those times and I have an excellent memory so I remember whenever I meet him."

Dani chuckled. "Don't worry Mr Skulker I was just joking." Dani said before regaining her composure. "The problem is that I don't know where Casper High is from here. I know how to get to Fenton Works however."

Skulker wasn't sure what it was but something compelled him to help the girl. Maybe it was the childlike wonder that compelled him to help her or maybe he was devising a way to use her as bait. Regardless he decided to show her the way to Casper High.

"Follow me I'll take you to the Whelp." Skulker said before leading the way.

Dani smiled and followed after him. Skulker was honestly surprised by how naïve the girl was. True he didn't have any malicious intent but regardless he was a complete stranger to her and she was blindly following him to a location. It was certainly strange.

"So why do you call Danny whelp?" Dani asked attempting to engage with conversation with her guide.

Skulker answered this question carefully. "The whelp can be annoying at times, when we spar or have… disagreements. When I first met him I didn't view him as anything more than a minor annoyance that happened to be very unique." Skulker answered. Most of that wasn't a lie. "Why are you looking for him so badly?"

Dani chuckled nervously, seemingly not knowing how to answer that question. She appeared to be considering her answer to the question before she finally decided to answer the question.

"I guess I don't have much of a family." Dani responded. "It's actually safe to say that Danny is my only family, at least I think he is." Skulker raised an eyebrow at that but didn't interrupt. "And I wasn't really born the normal way so I've never really had parents or family to take care of me. With the world ending, I was thinking that it might be nice to have a family before the end came. I wanted to ask Danny if he could… if he could be my family… if he could be my dad." The last part was barely a whisper but Skulker heard it loud and clear. In all honesty he was surprised to say the least.

"The whelp your father?" Skulker asked for confirmation.

"Yeah, I know sounds strange. But I never really had parents before and when I was traveling I saw a cartoon about a girl and her dad. I learned that dads are supposed to care about their daughters and protect them and raise them and love them. The only person who has done any of those things or treated me like family was Danny." Dani said quietly.

Skulker remained silent at that revelation. This was one of the last things that he had expected to hear. Hearing this memories surfaced in his mind of a young human boy with no parents. A human boy who lived on the streets. A human boy who met a wildlife huntsman. A human boy who was lucky enough to be given food by that huntsman and be taken in by him as well. A human boy who trained to be as good a huntsman as the huntsman.

That was a different time, when Scott Hunter was still alive, claiming himself to be the greatest hunter before his life came to an unfortunate end.

Skulker sighed. The plan had originally been to find the whelp and make him his last trophy on his wall before the apocalypse came to pass, that way he would be remember as the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter up until the end of everything. But now he was faced with another dream that clashed directly with his.

The ghost shrugged as he felt a major release of a three year long desire. Unless he could hunt down Plasmius then he wouldn't be looking to hang the pelt of a halfa on his wall anytime soon. Instead he would let the girl have her time with her family for as long as she had time.

They approached Casper High and Skulker knew that he would be within the range of the whelp's ghost sense soon. Dani's eye literally lit up as she saw the building and she began whispering words of encouragement to herself to calm her rising nerves. Skulker slowed his flight before coming to a halt causing Dani to do the same.

"No need for that cub." Skulker said, while finally coming up with a fitting nickname for the girl. "I have known the whelp for three years and I can guarantee you that he will not hesitate to accept you as his own."

Dani beamed at the ghost and gave him a big hug. "Thanks for the encouragement Uncle Skulker." Dani said.

"Uncle?" Skulker was taken back.

Dani immediately became flushed and floated back. "Sorry, in the cartoon I saw, the girl called friends of her dad uncle." Dani replied sheepishly. "If you don't want me to call you that then I will stop."

Skulker shook his head. This girl was too precious for her own good. If anyone saw this they would think that he were going soft. Her words then resonated with him, technically speaking he was still Phantom's enemy but he assumed that in the eyes of the girl he looked like a friend of the whelp. That would be interesting.

"Go ahead and call me what you like cub." Skulker said before a smile appeared on his face. "I am not opposed to the name."

Dani smiled giving her 'uncle' a big hug again. If Skulker were human his bones would probably be crushed. But he was in an exoskeleton so… some of the machinery surrounding his body started to bend inward. Dani may not be as strong as her father, but that didn't mean she wasn't as unnaturally strong as all Halfas were.

Skulker then led the girl towards the school, not before activating his ecto signature masking technology. He may not be hunting the whelp anymore but didn't mean he would pass up the opportunity to test out his technology.

~00000~

Today had been an interesting day overall for Danny. His conversations with Paulina had provided fruitful in preparation for the upcoming events. He had had another fight with Ember. She seemed to be showing up a whole lot since Clockwork announced the end of the world. Naturally she caused some havoc and the two had their usual banter and fighting. Turns out the rumour was also true and Mr Lancer's class was about watching animated movies so that was fun. So overall Danny had to say that today was a good day save for some moments of emotion here and there. It seemed that day wasn't over yet.

He was retrieving stuff from his locker at the end of the day, before he would head to the student council meeting. It was when he opened his locker did he detect ecto energy. It wasn't his ghostly sense which occurred when there was a full ghost around but the detection of energy that he picked up when there was a halfa around. At this point in time Danny had long since grown accustomed to Vlad's energy so he knew immediately that this wasn't his. A grin formed on Danny's face as he immediately realised whose ecto signature was around.

"Danielle." Danny exclaimed before he was suddenly tackled by the younger halfa. "I haven't seen you since you dramatically flew off."

Dani beamed at Danny, glad that he was happy to see her. She hopped off and transformed back into her human form. Luckily there was no one around so she wasn't worried.

"Hey Danny…" She said all of a sudden becoming nervous again. "I wanted to ask for a favour."

"A favour? Vlad isn't hunting you again is he?" Danny asked, concern evident in his voice.

"No. It's nothing like that." Dani responded calming Danny's nerves. "It's more like I… well… it's hard to explain… you see…"

The 10 year old girl began tripping over her words trying to find the best way to describe what she wanted.

"Don't be nervous. Just tell me what's on your mind." Danny spoke softly as he knelt down to her size.

"I… since I heard that the world was going to end. I realised that I wasn't happy with my life. I realised that I wanted more than what I had." Dani spoke softly. "I want a family."

There was a moment of silence before Danny surged forward and wrapped Dani around in his arms.

"I'm sorry, it never occurred to me how alone you must feel." Danny said to his clone. "If I realised, I never would have let you leave in the first place. Don't worry I'll be your family."

Dani was surprised. She didn't expect this to be this easy. With a gulp she decided to take the leap of faith.

"I also wanted to ask. I want you to be more than family. Danny. I know it sounds selfish but I want to be taken care of and to be a little princess. I…" Dani hesitated trying to find the words, "I want you to be my dad."

Out of the list of things that Danny expected to hear, that was the absolute last thing that he expected to hear. Danny froze for a moment, trying to come to grips with what Dani had said. She was asking him to take responsibility for her and become her dad. Danny looked the girl and felt his heart melting at looking at her. She wanted her family before the end came to take her life and that family included Danny as the dad. Danny couldn't say he was ready for that responsibility being only 17 years old but…

"Yes." Danny responded.

Tears immediately began to well in Dani's eyes. She was happier than he had ever seen.

"Thanks daddy." She said hugging Danny tighter.

It was weird for him to hear but it was natural for her to say. Danny decided that he would get used to it as time went on.

"Though I need to warn you, I may not be the best dad out there." Danny said a bit of his usual snarky humour coming out to cope with the new development. "You know I am only 17, and don't get me started on the half ghost work and the student council stuff, you might be better off with a robot rather than me."

Dani shook her head.

"No thanks. I would rather have you dad." Dani said gleefully.

"Well then I guess it's time to find all the dad jokes then." Danny quipped causing Dani to laugh.

"Please no, anything but that." Dani said through her laughter.

Danny smiled alongside his daughter until realisation hit him. He still had the student council meeting and he was pretty sure Dani was going to want to stay with him… and his parents would want to know why Danny was all of a sudden the father of a 10 year old girl. Oh boy this was going to get interesting real quick.

Skulker in the meanwhile watched from nearby. He had to admit it, even his iron core melted at the scene.

* * *

 **Dani: Okay I admit it. This is my favourite chapter.**

 **CyberActors15: Its chapter 2. There will be more.**

 **Dani: I don't care this is my favourite chapter. Also I'm surprised how did Skulker end up with the longest POV?**

 **CyberActors15: That was purely accidental. I assure you.**

 **Dani: Really. That's interesting. So what will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite and Follow to find out.**


	3. Prelude: 3 Months until the Apocalypse

Prelude: 3 Months until the Apocalypse

 **Shadow: Welcome back readers to 'A Phantom and his Broken World.'**

 **CyberActors15: Shadow, what the heck are you doing here? This isn't a Sonic the Hedgehog Story.**

 **Shadow: I was interested because this story looks like its building up to something very apocalyptic, I am a fan of apocalyptic stories.**

 **Dani: So you just let yourself into the Authors room?**

 **Shadow Yes. Now are we going to keep on chatting or are we going to have the brief recap so that we can get into this chapter.**

 **CyberActors15: I have no words. Do the recap Dani.**

 **Dani: Okay then… Last time we had the best chapter. I showed up, I met Skulker and was able to melt his iron cold core. Skulker then showed me where I could find Danny and I asked him if he could be my family, specifically if he could be my dad and he accepted. Additionally we also started to see some of the effects that the impending doom had on the psyche of others.**

 **CyberActors15: Yeah that's about it. So now let's get into this chapter.**

* * *

Since the clock started ticked down to the end approximately two months ago, a general panic and existential crisis developed among the people. For some places the crime rate sky rocketed due to some wanting to have nice things before they died. Other places the crime rate decreased as there were people who didn't want to die a criminal. Some people were suddenly changing their lifestyles wanting to experience everything the world had to offer before there was no world. Some began stressing, the fear and uncertainty of the looming threat driving some to insanity, or the noose, or to the bottle or to religion or away from religion or to drugs or to anything else that could dull their fears. There were those, who seemed to find peace and seemed to find peace in their life, without the need and requirement to change it drastically, but to improve it in small ways and enjoy time with their family.

The Fenton Family was one of these groups of people. They seemingly were much more at peace since the end of the world was announced, especially for the last month.

When Danny had accepted Dani as his daughter. He had decided to tell his parents about being Danny Phantom so that he could also explain having a sudden 10 year old daughter. The Fenton parents took the news extremely well and the news about Dani extremely better. Despite how she came into being she was accepted into the Fenton Family without so much as a single shred of hesitation. Quite literally the Fentons hugged her commenting on how adorable she was and how they were happy that she was a part of the family. They also took a bit of time to realise that they were now grandparents.

Jazz naturally loved Dani. She had heard about the young halfa before but when she actually showed up Jazz immediately fell in love. Her act as part of her duties as an aunt was to drag Dani to her room and dress her up in as many little girl outfits that she had. It's safe to say that Jazz was very sentimental and never got rid of anything which she owned so he had more than enough to dress the young Fenton in, much to Dani's chagrin.

Danny was surprised when Danielle's self-proclaimed godfather showed up with a gift for the girl. Danny had heard from Dani how "Uncle Skulker" had helped her when she arrived in Amity Park, if that wasn't surprising enough, Skulker shows up with a gift and admits to stopping the hunt on him because Dani deserved a chance at happiness before the world ended. Certainly it was a strange day. What he had given Dani was a small wrist computer that had the purpose of helping with her navigation amongst other things. It was surprisingly nice of him.

Skulker also assured Danny that he would be coming over every once in a while to check on his god daughter. That was certainly an interesting revelation. Since Skulker had no actual malicious intent it was easy to grow accustomed to him popping up every now and again. Additionally it was also strange for his parents to grow accustomed to Skulker showing up every once in a while, especially considering that they knew he fought against Danny multiple times in the past.

From those initial interactions, life for the Fenton Family seemed to just grow slightly better. Danny was able to spend more time with his parents and sister while also spending time with his daughter. When he wasn't working on Student Council Stuff or hanging out with Sam and Tucker, or stopping the occasional ghost that came to cause trouble, he was with his family. He would help his parents with some of their inventions as well as give them a bit more insight into ghosts. He would watch movies with Jazz as well as generally annoy her and save Dani from Jazz's aunt responsibilities.

His interactions with Dani however were the really interesting things to occur over the past month. Dani's quest to have a family and not be alone before the end involved never leaving Danny's side. She joined him when there was a rouge ghost by acting like his sidekick and she joined him when he went to school. That was rather interesting. Dani refused to acknowledge Danny as anything besides her dad so when he was in class or in the student council meetings, she openly acknowledged him as Dad. That created curious glances when they were in the school but Danny was able to successfully create a cover story as to why he was all of the sudden the father of a 10 year old girl who looked exactly like him. With the world ending people would believe anything… or they were too worried about the world ending to really even care about the oddities surrounding the Fenton Family.

Right Now Danny and Dani were sitting in the Casper High Cafeteria, discussing the animated Movie that Lancer had shown them today in class. Across from the young father and daughter were Sam and Tucker. Like the two in front of them they appeared more at ease with the world ending than others appeared to be. Actually generally most of the remaining Casper High Students seemed more at ease, maybe they could hide their fear well or they accepted that there was nothing they could do, but Casper High was one of the more calm locations.

As the three friends and Dani talked about the movie they were interrupted by the sudden blue wisp of cold air that escaped from their lips.

"Well that's unfortunate." Tucker muttered. "The conversation was just starting to get good."

"Don't worry we'll handle it and get back as soon as possible." Danny said before looking to Dani. "Do you want to stay and chat or do you want to kick some butt?"

Dani grinned. "Dad you know the answer to that." She responded.

"We'll cover for you two." Sam said. "Go enjoy your father daughter time."

Danny and Dani nodded before making their escape from the cafeteria. When the opportunity presented itself and there were no eyes on them they allowed themselves to transform into their ghost forms and fly off to find where there might or might not be trouble.

~00000~

While there were families like the Fentons who were more at ease and readily able to accept the forthcoming destruction there were others who nearly collapsed at the thought of the world ending.

The Gray family was one such family. In the past two months since Clockwork appeared and announced the end was coming the family of two had all but been destroyed. Damon Gray could hardly handle the stress, and the fear of the inevitable death and was shaken down to his core. Never in his life had he ever been described as an alcoholic but the sweet enticing lure of liquor brought him in and he hadn't left the bottle since.

Valerie actually noted that she never once saw him without a bottle since the announcement. Her dad was hurting and afraid. She could tell he was trying to be strong for her sake but she could tell that the stress of the world ending was eating at his spirit. Alcohol seemed to be the only thing that calmed him down from time to time and Valerie wouldn't stop him. She let him drink so that he could feel safer but she knew it was only a temporary fix. She had to find the ghost that threatened the world, the ghost that was going to destroy everything and destroy it before it destroyed everything she cared about but she had no leads. Every time a ghost appeared they would be taken care of by that other menace, Phantom. He was probably in on this plan, to destroy the world. Actually Valerie was willing to bet that every piece of ectoplasmic scum was involved. They had to be. They were all probably laughing at the humans who were suffering, waiting for their demise.

Valerie was taken out of her musing when she heard a stumble. Her anger faded briefly as she saw her dad struggling to stay upright as he tried to prepare dinner. He didn't have to, she didn't want him to, but he still tried.

"Dad let me help you." Valerie said.

She moved towards her father when the quake occurred. This wasn't the first one since the announcement and it wasn't anywhere near the last one. They occurred every once in a while, always unexpected when they came and always increasing the unease which had settled over the people.

Once again the literal space began to quake. Reality shook as if it were resting on a fault line which was shifting. This one was one of the more violent quakes as it affected more than just the surrounding space. Buildings with weak foundations threatened to collapse, trees tilted off their axis, humans with bad footing lost their grip on the ground, vehicles flying in the clearest of skies felt turbulence and Damon Gray, so desperately trying to hold onto anything but unable to due to his drunken state, collapsed. At the time he was attempting to retrieve the necessary things for cooking from the cupboard. He had put the bottle overhead and was grabbing what he needed.

It was at this moment that the quake hit.

Unprepared Damon fell to the ground, his head making first contact with the floor. The bottle came next, the force of the quake dropped the bottle and a few of the pots and pans. The bottle landed on his head first and then a few of the pots and pans all over his body. There were bruises, and a nasty cut on his head due to the broken bottle. In truth it wasn't anything lethal, the cut wasn't too deep and the alcohol did increase the stinging pain and he would certainly have a concussion but none of his injuries were anything life threatening.

However in the eyes of Valerie, her dad, a sweet man who had never done anything wrong, had just been injured possibly fatally because of all the ghosts that wanted to destroy the world. Her eyes burned with a rage as she ran to her father. Her eyes burned with rage as she called the ambulance. Her eyes burned with rage when they arrived taking her father to the nearest hospital. Her eyes burned with rage as she put on her suit. Her eyes burned with rage as she shot out of the apartment. Her eyes burned with rage as she saw a blip on her ectoplasmic energy scanner. Her eyes burned with rage when she saw Ember McLain floating casually in her city as if she weren't involved in the destruction of her world. Her eyes burned with rage as she attacked the ghost rocker.

"Alright Spook." Valarie growled darkly. "You are going to tell me why you ghosts are trying to destroy the world."

Ember could barely hear the girl due to the pain she felt at being shot in that surprise attack. It seemed the red clad crazy huntress wasn't happy with the fact that she took long to respond and shot her again, this time using an electric weapon. Ember, although she would never admit it, screamed out in pain at the attack.

"Answer me Ghost." The Red Huntress barked. "Why are you ghosts trying to destroy my world?"

Ember wasn't given any time to respond as she was shot again and again by the ghost hunter.

"Does it give your kind some sick satisfaction to watch humanity suffer?" Red Huntress continued. "Does it bring you a lot of amusement to cause us pain? What gives you ghosts the right to destroy our world? Why do you feel the need to destroy the lives and families living on earth?"

Ember could only scream in pain as she vaguely heard what the human girl was screaming. The ghostly pop princess decided that best case scenario be that she escape as soon as possible instead of staying and fighting. She let the power in her flame core build before it burst out in large wave of fire. The attacks onto her body lessened and she knew that she was in the clear for at least a moment.

Ember burst off at full speed hoping to get away from the psycho huntress. However the fact that she had sustained a few injuries had slowed her down incredibly and it wasn't long until another shot was fired in her direction. The shot missed which was fortunate for Ember as it basically alerted her that little miss psycho was back.

Ember turned, and decided to strum her guitar sending a skull blast towards her adversary of the day. The blast was weaker than it usually was but it was still something. Red Huntress blocked the attack with an energy shield forming around her. She then fired a binding agent at Ember which unfortunately hit and trapped her in energy binds.

"I'm not going to ask again spook." Red Huntress spoke darkly. "Why do you and your ghost friends want to destroy the world?"

"What are you crazy?" Ember snapped. "Why would we want to destroy the world?"

Apparently that was the wrong answer because the Huntress shot Ember again.

"Don't play dumb with me. Your boss showed up and told us that you all would destroy the world." Red Huntress spoke again. "What do you gain, or is it just a fun joke for you all."

Ember felt her anger rising. Her eyes became as red as the girl's suit and the flames in her hair began to roar like a raging inferno. Her energy levels were dropping rapidly due to her rising emotions and sustained injuries.

"You idiot. You think we want the world destroyed? News flash dipstick, if your world goes so does hours." Ember roared. "That kills us just as much as it kills you."

"Liar." The huntress cried out as she fired back, multiple times. "You expect me to believe that? You ghosts have always wanted nothing more than to ruin our lives! All you ghosts ever do is cause pain and suffering to my world and that ends today! Tell me where your boss is so that I can kill him and save my world."

Ember's power skyrocketed allowing her to break out of the bonds. However the entire action left her weak.

"You ignorant brat, you don't know what it's like in the Ghost Zone! Our world, our home is falling apart and you think we're doing that!" Ember fired an ecto blast at the huntress but quickly found her power failing her. "Why the hell would we destroy our own home, let alone our former home?"

The huntress wasn't having it, she was stuck in her own delusions. She accused Ember of lying again and attacked with another electric attack, this one on a higher voltage. Ember quickly began to lose consciousness as she screamed out in pain.

As her vision faded she saw the huntress being hit back by an ecto blast and she heard a voice that reminded her of the dipstick. She also felt someone else catching her as she started to fall. That's all she knew as she fell unconscious.

~00000~

The only way to describe Operative Alpha was stressed. The past two months had been stressful since the ghost, Clockwork, appeared and revealed to the public that the world would be ending. As predicted by Alpha and other Guys in White leaders, the public wasn't too happy with that information. The leaders of multiple countries and towns, specifically those that had Guys in White agencies, were calling to figure out why this was happening and were demanding concrete results on how to stop it. Alpha scoffed at the thought. It wasn't an easy fix. To discover how to stop the quakes and prevent the end of the world, they would have to find out what was causing them in the first place. Discovering that wasn't going to be easy with the politicians breathing down their necks.

Alpha, Beta, Delta and all the other heads of the Guys primary facilities all tried explaining to their relevant politicians that it wasn't a simple quick fix. Even the director of the American Guys in White as well as directors of other countries tried explaining but it was all in vain. Presidents, prime ministers, monarchs, mayors and even the rich all demanded answers which the Guys in White were unable to deliver.

At Four months until the end of the world the UN decided that the Guys in White should split their resources so that half could keep on working to find a way to solve the problem and the other half working with NASA and other space exploration companies on a method of evacuation. Now half of the GiW scientists and all the engineers were working with externals to find a way to build massive ships, known as Arcs, which would transport members of the population off world.

The scientists and engineers in his branch were no exception to this ruling.

Alpha being the head of his branch had to overlook everything that was presented to him and that was what was stressing the man. His scientists were spread thin and everything they presented just wasn't good enough. What the engineers, scientists and NASA eggheads were presenting as options for the Arcs had too many structural flaws and didn't have solid plans for long term or even short term life sustainment in space. The Arcs couldn't reasonably accommodate enough people to safely evacuate the planet and despite that Governments were selling tickets to the Arcs. Additionally the Scientists had no good news regarding the quakes that seemed to be growing in intensity as each month passed. With their resources as thinned out as they were there was little chance that the scientists would find any information.

That wasn't the only headache that Alpha had to endure. Today the Director of the American Branch was stopping by for a visit. Admittedly the Director had been on the same page as the other leaders bellow her in America, but as the two months passed by she started pushing for results.

Alpha was convinced that she was just as stressed but wasn't handling the stress as well as he was.

"Commander Alpha." The voice of his personal assistant came through the phone. "Director Tanya Frost has arrived in front of the base. I just thought you'd like to know."

Alpha sighed, thanking his PA before mentally preparing for talk with his boss. He didn't have to wait long as soon he heard the familiar **DING** of the elevator and the clicking of heals. The voices outside his office all quieted down becoming whispers. He could imagine his operatives fumbling over themselves and saluting. That image made him chuckle.

The doors swung open and the most threatening woman on the planet walked towards Alpha. She was in her mid-thirties, quite young to be in her position in the chain of command but that fact made her all the more threatening. She had Onyx Black hair and azure blue eyes that were hidden behind her dark sunglasses. Like all other Guys in White, she wore a white suit that came equipped with thousands upon hundreds of hidden ecto weapons. Unlike other male agents she wore a neat knee length skirt and black leggings alongside white heals. She was Tanya Frost, Director of the American Branches of the Guys in White. That was the alias that she used, that most agents knew her as.

"Afternoon Professor Ross." The Director greeted with her usual southern charm and accent.

But Alpha, Theodore Ross, would always know her as Tanya Fenton, his best student from his days teaching at the Guys in White Academy.

"It's Commander Alpha now, Miss Fenton." Alpha responded.

"It's Director Frost now, Commander." Director Frost responded coolly. "Now let's make this little chat quick shall we. I need to go visit my brother and his wife as well as my nephew. There are some new developments in the family and I would very much like to meet my new grand-niece as well as the new members of the family."

~00000~

The first thing Ember thought when she woke up was _'Ow, my everything hurts.'_ The second thing she took note of was that she wasn't in her usual wake up post bad fight location. She wasn't in the Ghost Zone, she was in the human world. It was like she was inside of a hospital but didn't look like one. She vaguely recognised the room with silver walls with glowing green ectoplasm in vials. She felt something soft beneath her, maybe a bed and something that had been pricked into her arm.

It took her a second to realise that she was in the Dipstick's basement in his parents Lab. Fearing the worst she shot up expecting to see his parents preparing to experiment on her, that was a mistake. Her head groaned as the force of shooting up didn't agree with her. She almost lost consciousness again. Almost being the key word.

Ember held her head until it stopped spinning allowing her to properly assess the situation. The situation wasn't like she expected it to be. She was in the Dipstick's parent's lab, yes, but she wasn't being experimented on or anything. As far as she could tell she was being treated. The prick in her arm was an ectoplasm drip that seemed to be feeding ectoplasm into her system, but not on a lethal level, so that she could easier heal the wounds she had sustained. She wasn't dressed in her usual outfit, instead she wore a hospital gown and a few bandages, which glowed an interesting ecto green. That must be how they stay on her while she was unconscious.

Additionally there was a 10 year old girl looking directly at her. Ember was surprised by how similar the girl looked like the Dipstick, it was actually uncanny how similar she looked.

"Uh… hi." Ember said. She didn't have any interest in scaring a little kid.

"Hi." The girl said. "I'm Dani, with an 'I.' Pleased to meet you."

"Dani?" Ember asked. "Like Phantom?"

"Yeah he's my dad." Dani responded.

Ember wasn't sure if she heard the kid right but she decided that she was in too much pain to really care right now. She heard what she thinks she heard so she would go with it for now until she got confirmation.

"Whatever you say baby-dip." Ember said deciding on a nickname for the Dipstick's kid. She tried moving only to be hit with a wave of pain.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Baby-dip said. "When Dad and I found you, you were really hurt. I may not know a whole lot about medical practises but I do know that that's meant to help you and if you leave now you might not get better."

The baby-dip sounded concerned. It was cute, but Ember didn't need her concern. She tried to get up again, once again struggling. Dani furrowed her eyebrows before she moved towards the stairs and exited the lab. In the time that the baby-dip was gone Ember was able to stand up from the bed without collapsing. She didn't have time to be here. She tried to walk, finding it difficult but she was managing… that is until the Dipstick walked into the room behind her.

Ember couldn't see him so she couldn't see the blush that quickly formed on Danny's face. Perhaps had her head been on straight she would have considered what she was wearing before she stood up.

"Uh Ember." Danny began, unsure how to phrase his next words. "You are revealing the full moon."

The message was delivered, and Ember seemingly forgetting her exhaustion and pain turned around rapidly with a bright blush on her face. She grabbed the back of her hospital gown and held it closed her hands.

"Tell me you didn't see anything." Ember pleaded.

Danny was sweating bullets. The truthful honest hormone driven teenage part of him wanted to say that he saw the full backside package including the rainbow unicorn tattoo that sat on the left cheek. The part of him that wanted to stay alive wanted to say literally anything else.

Danny wasn't able to articulate any words but despite that Ember realised that he had seen it all. Ember would have burned Danny alive if she had enough power but she didn't so she settled for awkwardly staring at him.

"Tell no one." She muttered eventually causing the halfa to furiously nod.

She accepted his response for now. She made a move to walk away but was once again reminded of how weak she was at the current moment. All the awkwardness melted away from Danny and he immediately rushed over to her side to help her.

"Hey take it easy." Danny said. "You still aren't in any shape to move around so much."

Danny helped Ember back into the bed, much to the ghost's chagrin. He then worked replacing the ectoplasm in the ecto drip and making sure that Ember was more comfortable.

He then admitted to Ember that he'd have to change her bandages and clean the wounds since neither his mother nor Sam were here at the moment. Ember, knowing that she had bandages all over due to the multiple injuries she had sustained, realised that this would mean that Danny would have to strip her down to clean the wounds and replace the bandages. She attempted to deny it but the pain seemed overwhelming and the knowledge that there wasn't anything that she could really do about her made her submit.

The whole ordeal was awkward as Ember show off more skin than she ever intended to, and to her enemy no less, and Danny had to have a literal hands on experience as he did the medical check. Both teens tried to focus on something different. Danny focusing on the job he had to do and Ember focusing on the way Danny did the job.

He cleaned the wounds with practised precision and replaced the bandages as if he had done it quite a few times before.

"Where'd you learn to be a doctor Nurse Dipstick?" Ember asked in an attempt to clear the awkward tension surrounding them. "You're surprisingly good at it."

"Really? This is my first time doing this sort of thing." Danny admitted. "But I learned by watch Sam and Tucker bandage me up so many times before." Danny chuckled lightly. "Sometimes you guys really hit me hard on some days and those two would worry themselves sick trying to look after me."

Ember was shocked.

"This is your first time doing this?" Ember exclaimed. "And you learnt by watching your friends wrap you up?"

"Yeah Sam and Tucker really got good at this kind of thing and I guess I just picked up the skills." Danny said. "Good thing too, after that fight with Valerie you were really bad."

Ember was once again surprised. There was no denying it that the way Danny was patching her up was the accurate medical way to do it. Sometimes you could tell when an amateur was working in comparison to a seasoned professional. That's what Danny felt like, a pro. Admittedly Danny wasn't perfect. When bandaging the back his talent seemed to slip but regardless he still performed the role excellently.

Ember realised something else interesting.

"Why did you save me dipstick? You said it yourself, I helped put you in similar situations before, so why save me. I'm your enemy." Ember said suspiciously. "Or are you trying to use this opportunity to perv over my defenceless body?"

"What no." Danny said. "You needed help and Val was way out of line. What she did was nothing short of torture."

Had Ember been able to see Danny's eyes she would have noticed them flashing red. However she did feel the increase in ectoplasmic energy, but it was a momentary spike.

"No I never need help." Ember said before she groaned in pain. She could just feel the 'oh really' look that Danny was giving her. "Fine sometimes I need help."

Danny grinned due to his small victory over the diva.

"Everyone needs help from time to time." Danny said as he finished wrapping the last bandage around Ember. "All done."

Danny then stood and began clearing up the messy bandages and ecto blood that was all over the place. Ember, although re-bandaged, was still in pain and had to hop back into bed as per 'Nurse Dipstick's orders.'

Ember watched him as he moved around.

"Is the baby-dip really your kid?" She eventually asked as Danny worked.

Danny paused as he considered the nickname for Dani.

"Yeah she's my daughter." Danny admitted.

"How did that happen?"

"Long story."

Ember may not care that much about Danny and his life but she had to admit she was incredibly curious about the young halfa.

"As long as we are asking twenty one questions, do you mind if I ask some?" Danny asked only to be met with a roll of Ember's eyes. "Okay… So if you don't mind me asking, why are you so hell bent on ruling the world?"

"The world sucks and I want to have fun." Ember said. "I want to make the world better for gals like me and what's the best way to do that other than taking over the world."

"So hypnotising teenagers is going to make the world better for you?" Danny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Adults are boring dipstick." Ember responded. "They are also ignorant to everything that goes on around them so they wouldn't even know or care if the teenagers of the world got taken over."

Danny raised an eyebrow at that. He wasn't a psychiatrist like Jazz or Spectra, but he could guess that there was a lot of resentment to adults.

"Someone sounds angry at adults." Danny commented idly.

"Of course I'm angry." Ember said darkly. "Adults are blind to everything. They never pay attention to all the kids like us. All they do is worry about making money and pay no attention to the teenagers that are left behind. Then again that's not to say that teenagers aren't any better. At least Adults are honest about not caring unlike teenagers who pretend to care only to stab you in the back."

It was now Danny's turn to be surprised, Ember was revealing more than he expected.

"You asked if hypnotising teenagers would make the world better." Ember stated as her eyes began to glow red with anger. "Yes it will. Because if everyone is all enjoying themselves listening to music with all one mind then no 17 year old girl will ever have to sit idly by in a burning house after crying herself to sleep because she was part of a cruel prank after her dead beat dead set the house on fire trying to make more money."

Danny could tell Ember was furious and she clearly wasn't thinking straight based on the fact that she had just revealed her origins to him.

"Ember," he said getting her attention making her realise what she had said, "are you alright?"

Ember's eyes returned to their usual green and she was left shaking. For the first time in Danny's life he saw tears streaking down the face of Ember. He was immediately at her side trying to comfort her.

"Ember, what's wrong?" Danny asked.

Ember through her tears tried to glare at Danny but was unable to show any malice of any form. Instead her eyes showed fear, genuine fear.

"Dipstick, the world is going to end." Ember said. "And I haven't accomplished anything. Assholes like you and the huntress bitch stop me from getting anywhere in my afterlife and assholes like that blond kid at your school stopped me from getting anywhere in life. Today or yesterday or whenever the fuck I was knocked out, all I wanted was to go out for air and get away from my near destroyed home but guess what, I'm not allowed to fucking do that either. And now here you are acting like you care again because you are some fucking hero but let's honest here, as soon as I can you are just going to suck me into that thermos and send me back into a destroyed Ghost Zone. I wanted to be a musician but life fucked me over! I wanted to enjoy my life but my parents fucked me over. I wanted to make friends and go out on a date with a boy but Aaron fucked me over. I wanted to enjoy my afterlife but…"

She wasn't able to finish that sentence as she was immediately given a big hug. Tears were running down her face, sure, but what she felt where the tears of Danny Fenton. Despite being in his human form she could feel the pulse of his core alongside the beating of his heart.

"I'm sorry you had to experience all of that." That was all that Danny said but the emotion was there, she could feel his emotion and it was genuine. It was only after a while that they remained embraced like that did he speak again. "You deserve a shot at happiness before the world ends, just like Dani, you deserve to be happy."

~00000~

It was only the next day when Ember was able to stand on her own again and only the day after that she was allowed to leave the Fenton house. It was a surprising two days to say the least. The Dipstick's family was surprisingly hospitable to the ghost girl. Admittedly Maddie Fenton was more reluctant about Ember staying around but she didn't try anything against the ghost girl.

Ember didn't know what Danny had told his family, he promised not to reveal what she had told him, but whatever it was it had led to them helping her out, talking to her and keeping her healthy. During this time she was also surprised when Skulker showed up, claiming to be Baby-dip's god father. Danny just shrugged she asked by Ember.

On the second day, when she was officially discharged from the Fenton Ghostly Care Laboratory, she actually found herself without a plan. In the quake a few days prior, what remained of her lair was destroyed amongst others lairs. She could hypothetically reform it but she was still weak from the huntress's attacks. When the Fenton Family had learned this… due to an accidental slip from Ember… it was actually Jack Fenton who invited Ember to stay at Fenton Works. His logic was that any friend of Danny's had a home at Fenton Works, even though Ember herself didn't feel like a friend of Danny. That came as a surprise and the greater surprise was when the entire family agreed to it Dani had taken a liking to Ember and she basically demanded that Ember stay and there was still the promise that Danny had made which was to help her find happiness before the end. Ember, although she would never admit it, was more than happy to accept a place and was even given her own room. Turns out there was a lot of space in Fenton Works for extra living conditions.

As a sort of 'Welcome to Fenton Works' gift Danny and Dani took Ember out for some ice-cream Ember accepted gladly as it gave her more time to stretch her legs. Even more surprising the Dipstick's friends joined them. Tucker didn't seemed bothered by the fact that Ember was joining, saying something along the lines of "Once Skulker joined [he] expected more ghostly friends to join eventually." Sam was also seemingly cool with Ember 'joining' the Fenton Family. Something about finally having an interesting female friend to talk to.

As they travelled, Ember was surprised to learn that Danny was Student Body President and that he was offering her a chance to perform at the upcoming Casper Festival that Danny and Paulina were organising. The only condition being that Ember wouldn't be allowed to hypnotise anyone. Ember hesitated but said she would take it under consideration.

Ember had to admit that everything was going well. She got a few odd looks from others but she didn't care. The world was ending soon, who cared if a slightly bandaged up ghost was getting ice cream with four humans, one of which was a 10 year old girl who called a 17 year old boy "dad."

When they arrived at the ice-cream parlour the group of five got their specific flavours. Danny didn't hesitate to get chocolate. Ember decided to get strawberry. Tucker decided to get vanilla and chocolate. Sam went with her personal preference of strawberry and mint flavoured. Dani unable to decide went with Neapolitan ice-cream.

It was a nice treat and a nice way to celebrate being able to move around freely without the addition of pain. Ember wasn't going to admit this anytime soon but she was enjoying this and although the urge to attack the Dipstick was still there she was glad that she spilled her guts to him and was on her way to becoming friends with him. If she hadn't she wouldn't be in this nice spot right now.

Unfortunately the niceness only lasted a moment. A blast of ecto energy aimed at her feet brought the nice atmosphere to a close. Floating above the five was Valerie, in her Red Huntress outfit.

"You four step away from the ghost." With the venom in her voice anyone would think that she were a python.

Ember cursed her luck as she didn't have enough energy to fight her off now. And the presence of the bandages indicated that she still wasn't physically fit enough to fight. Fortunately she wouldn't need to as Danny stepped in front of her.

"Valerie, put your gun down." Danny called out trying to be diplomatic. "You are out of line for attacking Ember."

Valerie hesitated for a moment but kept her gun pointed directly at him.

"How did you…? Never mind that isn't important now." Valerie said as her mask vanished. "Danny you don't understand that ghost is in on it. She's trying to destroy the world. She knows what the ghosts are doing and how to stop it. I need to get those answers out of her."

"You have no proof. And even then their world is going to be destroyed just like our world will be." Danny defended getting angry.

"No proof?" Valerie yelled as her anger became worse. "All ghosts are evil. They always have been and they always will be. They will always try to destroy humanity because they are nothing more than vile ectoplasmic scum. They are all in cahoots in planning to kill every single one of us. I bet it was this ghost who set off the quake that put my dad in hospital!"

All five of them could see it in her eyes. She was looking for a scapegoat to blame for the unfortunate circumstances that she faced. And she was looking for someone to blame for the end of the world.

"Val, I'm sorry about what happened to your dad," Danny said trying to quell his rising anger, "but you need to get a grip. You can't blame Ember or any of the other ghosts just because of your biased racism against ghosts. They have just as much to lose as we do. And if you try to her then you have to get through me."

Danny put his foot down and sent a glare at Valerie. Valerie only scowled as she replaced her blaster with a melee weapon that cackled with energy.

"You're blind. Sorry Danny, this isn't going to kill you but it isn't gonna tickle either." Valerie said before she shot forward with the intent of knocking Danny out of the way so that she could get to Ember.

Danny however revealed his superior reaction time and put up an ecto shield in front of him, which blocked the attack, much to Valerie's surprise, before he fired an ecto blast which knocked her back. Danny then transformed into Phantom and he flew into the air in front of Valerie. Dani took the que to do the same.

"Last chance Valerie. Stand down and think about what you are doing." Danny commanded with authority.

Valerie could only stare at Danny… at Phantom as he floated in front of her.

"You… you're Phantom?" Valerie asked. At that moment everything fit into place. She had seen both Dani and Vlad transform into their respective ghost forms and she had previously found it odd how Danielle looked exactly like Danny. All of Danny's mysterious disappearances, whenever there was a ghost attack as well as Phantom always having Fenton Tech.

Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom. Valerie felt sick. She used to have a crush on Danny Phantom. She kissed Danny Phantom. She tried to kill Danny Fenton. She tortured Danny Fenton.

"You're one of them… you…" Valerie began but she couldn't finish the thought.

It was all too much to handle so she turned and fled leaving the group of five.

~00000~

Alpha couldn't deny it, he wished his former pupil had gone to literally any other base but she had come here, to his base. Director Frost was applying pressure that was very much not appreciated.

Since she had arrived she had been looking over the information that his science department had presented and she was clearly not impressed.

"You're operatives have had the most exposure to ghostly occurrences and this is the best that they have been able to come up with?" Director Frost asked quite annoyed with the results. "Tell me Commander Alpha, how exactly do you expect to save any lives with so little information? Not only have you failed to find any sort of information pertaining to the cause of these quakes, your scientists have failed at constructing viable vessels for travel off world."

"Our recourses are spread thin just like every other branch of the Guys in White." Alpha responded. "We can't focus on looking for solutions for both problems, additionally all the proposed ships have critical flaws that won't help at all with preserving mankind."

Frost looked at Alpha, clearly not impressed with what he had said.

"Then find a way. That's what we do. The reason I put your base on head research for solutions along with paired you up with NASA is because you have the best experience in ghostly affairs." Frost responded coldly.

"The only proposed plan that we have is to cut down on people we can transport but even then that doesn't mean…" Alpha began only to be cut off.

"I want it done Commander Alpha." Frost responded almost immediately. "Whatever it takes, for the Arcs to be in the air, I want it done. And I want all problems that arise to be dealt with."

"You can't be serious." Alpha responded. "We are talking about cutting the populations of the Arcs by over 50 percent. That is thousands of people sacrificed so that we can save more, if we can just focus on finding the…"

"I don't want to hear it Alpha." Frost responded coldly. "I am aware of the number of casualties but I don't care. If we move our attention away from these Arcs and towards the quakes, and we fail then that results in the extinction of everyone. If the Arcs aren't ready then that also results in our extinction. I would very much like to continue living on earth but if there is a chance that we won't be able to solve the problem then we must be prepared. It may sound inhumane to forsake human lives for others but I feel I must remind you that it is an undeniable and may I say a fundamental quality of man, that when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable, even killing billions for a few to survive."

Frost then stepped away and adjusted her glasses. "You, and every other division of the Guys in White have one week. From then we begin construction of the Arcs." Frost said. "I will be checking in to view your progress, Alpha. Until our next meeting, goodbye Professor Ross."

"Yes ma'am." Alpha responded earning a satisfied half smile from the woman. "Goodbye Cadet Fenton."

The Director was almost outside of the room before she turned.

"I told you, its Director Frost now." She responded with a condescending smirk. "I am still your boss, and you would do well to remember that."

She walked out of the office and Alpha was left remembering the bright eyed bushy tailed student he used to have before she became one of the cold hearted ghost hunter she was today.

Outside Frost walked casually towards the elevator. Everyone saluted at her as she walked past which made her smile. If there was something she loved it was being in control and being respected. If only her older brother had the same respect and drive for control that she had. Maybe he wouldn't have been placed in the unfortunate situation in which he was in. Still Tanya couldn't deny it, her older brother, Jack Fenton, and his wife were among the greatest scientists in the ghost hunting community. It's a shame they never made it into the Guys in White.

As she walked through the building she found her personal assistant, a young blonde haired cadet named Talia Church. Talia didn't need to be told, she simply followed behind Director Frost.

When they reached the parking lot Talia opened the door for Director Frost before hopping into the driving seat.

"Anything interesting happen at the meeting?" She asked.

"Just a few decisions being made." Frost responded.

"Alrighty. Where to boss?" Talia asked.

Frost didn't respond immediately.

"We probably won't be leaving Amity Park for a while." Tanya responded becoming relaxed as she sat in the car. "Perhaps you might be able to see some action while we are here. But for now it might do some good to see some family. Remind me how old you are."

"18 ma'am." Talia responded.

"You are just a year older than my nephew." Tanya noted. "It might be interesting for you to meet him. Take us to Fenton Works."

~00000~

All things considered Danny was quite happy when he returned to school the next day. The weirdness of the past few days, weekend included, had really started to show and leave their mark on the poor halfa. Finding Valerie over a very injured Ember was troubling to say the least. Danny guessed that that moment was the first indication that Val had gone off the rails. Sure she had a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later but she never went to the level of physical torture for information. For him that's what it looked like, torture. He was lucky he got to Ember in time before any permanent damage was done.

At the time he didn't get to question Valerie about her actions since Ember needed medical attention so he and Dani had to split. That was only the begging of the week that he would have.

Naturally Danny couldn't take Ember to a normal hospital since they wouldn't have the ability to help a ghost so he had to take Ember to his parents. Now it was odd enough with Skulker showing up again and again but now he had to ask his parents help him save Ember's life. They were reluctant as expected but they helped out and even constructed specific ecto materials so that Ember wouldn't just phase through them while she was unconscious. It also helped that his mom also had medical training.

Then there was the very awkward confrontation with Ember when she woke up the next day. That's not to say that Danny didn't enjoy the brief glance, he was still a teenage boy and Ember was incredibly hot and… Danny had to shake his head to prevent it from going deeper into the gutter. Regardless that entire scenario was an awkward one. The weirdness didn't stop there. Danny was constantly checking in on Ember as she stayed in his house for two extra days monitoring her vitals. Most of the time it was his mom doing medical checks but Danny would be assisting. Every time his mom and Ember spoke, he couldn't help but be afraid that something was going to be said that would make the rest of his life weird.

Fortunately nothing was said and Ember was eventually discharged from his basement. While talking with Ember that morning she admitted to not having a home to go back to, his dad was inside at the time so he offered her a place to stay in Fenton Works. Once again Danny's life was thrust into a downward spiral of weirdness and stress. Ember accepted and as a method of being nice, he invited her out to Ice-cream along with Sam, Tucker and Dani. That was when Val arrived making the situation stressful.

Just when Danny thought that the weekend couldn't become any less stressful and weird, his aunt and a girl who acted as her protégé showed up yesterday, wanting to meet his daughter as well as some of the new members of the family. Turns out Dad wasn't good at keeping secrets. How fortunate that Skulker was also there that day.

Admittedly Danny didn't know much about his Aunt Tanya save for the fact that she was his dad's younger sister, and a high ranking government agent. Danny didn't know what part of the government she or her protégé worked for, he just assumed FBI, he just knew she was government. When they arrived there was a tense situation. They didn't expect Ember and Skulker or a 10 year old daughter to a 17 year old boy. Danny ended up having to reveal his secret identity to both Aunt Tanya and her protégé, Tanya. He didn't mind really as he was basically expecting to reveal to his family members but it was revealing to Talia which was the weird part.

Despite the reveal there was still a tense environment. You would have thought that Aunt Tanya and Talia were guys in white based on how tense they were after the reveal but that was unlikely, the Guys in White hated the Fentons. The two tried to be nice but it was clear that they didn't think highly of ghosts. As the day continued the tense mood seemed to vanish and Aunt Tanya went back to being her usual self. Talia also turned out to be pretty cool.

However at the end of the day, Danny decided that that entire week was too weird and he just wanted to go back to something that made sense where there was no stress. School had become his new normal. However it looked like today wouldn't be the return to normalcy that he expected.

When Danny arrived at school he was placed into another scenario that continued the strain of the past week. While he was alone waiting for his friends, Sam and Dani had gone off to the ladies bathroom together and Tucker had yet to arrive at school. Danny was left standing in front of his locker as he waited for the others to arrive.

He had arrived early, so that he could possibly do some student council work, as a result the hallway where he stood was completely empty right now. Before Danny could head over to the Student council room he heard the cocking of a gun.

Danny turned and saw Valerie standing right behind him. Her eyes were cloudy and red, probably from tears or something of the sort. Her expression was confusion disguised as anger. Her arm with her ecto gun shook, all the iron clad will that she had previously, had vanished and was left with uncertainty and fear.

Danny noted that this was her first time back in school since the announcement of the world's destruction but he could tell that she wasn't here to resume her lessons.

"How long?" Val demanded, or at least tried to. Her voice was small and non-threatening.

"Three years."

"You tried to kill me."

"I willingly destroyed an empty suit. I knew you weren't inside."

"Why did you ruin my life?"

"I didn't ruin anything. I tried to stop Cujo and you overreacted, just like you overreacted when I destroyed your suit, and when you attacked Ember."

Valerie gripped her gun harder as she tried to glare at Danny but the halfa wasn't moved by her anger.

"Look, I know you're scared and all, but pointing a gun at me or Ember isn't going to change what happened to your dad. And it isn't going to stop the quakes or fix the world. The world is ending. Two worlds are ending and that is bigger than a single ghost or human or halfa, we are all effected and we don't have any way of fixing it. The only thing we can do is live the remainder of our lives to the fullest instead of hiding away in fear." Danny said.

He may have been angry at the huntress in front of him but he still understood why she was like this. Valerie was a victim of circumstance, a lot of people were. She had been hit with the revelation that the world was going to end and it pushed her off the edge. She was looking for someone to blame, hoping that finding the culprit would put her at ease. Unfortunately she was a dog chasing her tail and would never find it.

Maybe Danny had begun to pick up on all that psycho analysis mumbo jumbo that Jazz spoke about.

Valerie grit her teeth. "You think it's easy, accepting that the world is ending?" Valerie demanded. "You think it's easy to lay down my life and accept my death? You think I can just live my life knowing I could do something to stop it? You're a bigger moron than I gave you credit for spook. The only reason why you can do that is because you and the rest of your evil kind set up charges to destroy the world and…"

That's all it took for Danny to finally snap and for his anger to reveal itself but despite that he never once laid a hand on Valerie.

"Are you stupid?" Danny all but yelled. "Of course it's not easy, accepting your own impending death will never be easy! Don't assume that I have any ulterior motive just because I appear to be calm because I am anything but calm! I also don't want the world to end, I want to grow up and get my degree! I have a daughter now so I want to see her grow up! My parents accept me for who I am and I want that to continue! You have no idea the fear that I had for three years that my parents would try and kill me because I was half ghost! And now that I know they love me unconditionally, I wish I could have told them sooner. I don't want the world to end because all my friends and family will die!"

Danny then defused his anger and looked directly at Valerie. Despite appearing calmer there was still something in his demeanour that had Valerie stepping back in fear and uncertainty.

"But I came to terms with it. This isn't a problem that I can fix by throwing an ecto blast at some big enemy, trust me if I could I would. Instead I decided to spend the rest of my time making new friends and doing what I enjoy." Danny said before turning away. "You should try it, it might do you good to be happy before the end."

Valerie could only watch as he walked away.

"I… I'm not done with you. I still want answers! I still want to know how to save humanity." Valerie yelled trying to reassert herself however the fact that she was unable to lift her gun anymore showed how frail she was at the moment.

She was a lost cause but Danny was never one to give up on lost causes.

"You might not know this, since you left the school and all, but we are planning a big festival, the Casper Festival, the whole town is invited. One last show that we are a strong species type of thing. I'm enjoying working towards that event." Danny said. "You should come by."

Valerie couldn't continue. She knew that this discussion was over and that Danny had won the fight. She thought she came in prepared to fight the war but she was severely unequipped to handle her emotions and the emotional storm that was behind the eyes of Danny Fenton.

She lost. She turned with the intention of exiting the school before anyone else saw that she was hear.

Danny turned the corner and spotted his partner in crime, Paulina. Despite calming himself down he still wasn't in a particular chatty mood. Paulina noticed that as she approached and she slowed down.

"Why are your eyes glowing red?" Was all that she asked.

* * *

 **Dani: Holy long chapter.**

 **Shadow: I didn't expect emotional depth from you. Your stories usually involve hitting something and funny moments.**

 **CyberActors15: Not sure if that is a compliment or an insult. Regardless I did tell people at the begging of this story that this was different to my usual stories.**

 **Dani: Regardless this emotional chapter has me fearing what might happen next.**

 **Shadow: I am curious as well.**

 **Dani: So what will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite and Follow to find out.**

* * *

It was a nice little diner to say the least. Even high ranking government agents like Tanya Frost and her protégé Talia Church had to enjoy some of the simple things like the food of a diner. Especially after the recent revelations that they had encountered when visiting Fenton Works.

Traditionally they would have returned with the intention of capturing and interrogating the two ghosts but with limited resources they decided against it. However Director Frost was intrigued by the status of her nephew. She never expected Halfas to exist. The idea of humans combining with ghosts did offer ideas and insights into what could be possible in terms of biology as well as the idea of human weapons. It also looked like a possible method of survival. Perhaps the world was doomed for humans and ghosts, but those who walked between both worlds, they might be able to survive.

Director Frost certainly put a pin in that idea but with so little time left until the apocalypse, there would be little to no time to explore that option. Regardless that wasn't why she was here at this diner today.

"Ms Frost, I presume."

Tanya smiled, her attention was turned to the girl standing to her left.

"Please sit down. We have a lot to talk about Ms Gray." Director Frost spoke coolly.

Valerie, wearing a new white outfit, nodded and slid into the booth next to Talia.

* * *

 **Dani: You didn't!**

 **Shadow: You damned writer.**

 **CyberActors15: Yeah I did.**

 **Dani: I can't believe it.**

 **Shadow: Somebody get me a mother F**king table to flip!**


End file.
